SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from Tuesday’s episode of Dancing with the Stars.

Another week, another night of Dancing with the Stars.

It’s the first-ever Super Bowl night in the ballroom, so the remaining couples are dancing to songs from former Super Bowl halftime performers, including Shakira, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and more. As we know, Disney loves synergy, and this is no exception since ABC and ESPN are hosting the big game this season.

The judges are joined tonight by Joe Buck, the lead play-by-play announcer for ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Don’t expect any sophisticated remarks from him, considering he tells the audience early on he has no idea about the technical aspects of any of the dances, but he’s excited to weigh in.

Let’s dive into Super Bowl Night.

Reality star Maura Higgins with Mark Ballas. These two are still on cloud 9, literally, after getting the first 9 of the season last week from Carrie Ann. This week, they’re dancing a tango to “Only Girl (In the World)” by Rihanna. In her intro package before the performance, she seems to be struggling with pain in her neck, so staying in frame might be tough. She definitely comes across a little stiff, but otherwise powers through. “Maura, once again a beautiful performance,” Carrie Ann tells her but reminds her that her movement needs to be more “punctuated” on the Latin dances. SCORE: 33 out of 40

Savannah Bananas midfielder Jackson Olson with Emma Slater. The pair have been in the bottom two the past two weeks, and Olson also has to prepare for the Banana Bowl (which went down over the weekend), so who’s to say how he’ll do with a salsa to “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars. Not sure how much salsa there was in the final product, but they certainly brought the energy. “I think this was your best dance,” Derek says. “It just felt like you really commitTed and owned that floor.” SCORE: 31 out of 40

Olympian Amber Glenn with Pasha Pashkov. They got great feedback on their rumba last week, but they weren’t too thrilled to go down on the leaderboard. Their upside down split is also making the rounds on social media, so they’re excited to get back out on the ballroom floor and raise the bar. This week, they’re taking on a samba to “Mi Gente” by J Balvin & Willy William. “She knows how to get the party started!” Bruno says, pointing out she’s also finally playing more within the style of dance, as they judges have been asking her to do for a few weeks. SCORE: 34 out of 40

Reality star Tyler Cameron with Sharna Burgess. These two gave the judges their “breakthrough dance” of the season last week, and now is Cameron’s time to shine as a former football player. He’s performing a jazz to “The Time (Dirty Bit)” by Black Eyed Peas, and Burgess is really focusing on his balance (which is kind of nonexistent). The song was perfect for him, since the judges previously compared him to Patrick Swayze, and yes, they did hit a lift…obviously. “Tyler, I love when you go dirty dancing!” Bruno says, also complimenting his improvement on his timing and his form. SCORE: 30 out of 40

Comedian and podcaster Connor Wood with Rylee Arnold. Their scores dropped slightly last week, so this is another chance for Wood to prove that he’s got some hip action in him with a samba to “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira ft. Wyclef Jean. And you know what? Those hips were doing something! “You really didn’t have the correct hip-foot action for the samba,” Bruno told him. It’s hard to say how his sins were worse than the other men before him, whose footwork could also use some finesse, but hey! SCORE: 25 out of 30

Actress Julia Stiles with Ezra Sosa. This movie star also had a breakthrough last week, and she seems to really be enjoying the experience now that she’s let go a little. Nowhere to go but up from here! Stiles says she’s channeling the queen herself with a jazz to “Jenny From the Block” [Track Masters Remix] by Jennifer Lopez ft. Jadakiss & Styles P, which also featured an homage to her film Save the Last Dance right in front of her co-star Sean Patrick Thomas. “I know this is the wrong movie, but I think we just got served!” Carrie Ann screams. SCORE: 33 out of 40

Actress Tatyana Ali with Jan Ravnik. The Fresh Prince star was a little hurt by Carrie Ann’s 6 last week, so she really wants to improve this week. She and Ravnik are dancing a salsa to “Squabble Up” by Kendrick Lamar, which is an interesting combination, and the judges sort of unfairly hold that against them in the scoring. Both Derek and Carrie Ann say it might’ve been too laid back for a salsa (maybe they should’ve been given a song above 100 bpm), but Joe Buck says it was his favorite of the night! “You’ve got it,” Bruno assures her, but wants her to go even further. SCORE: 29 out of 40

Late-night sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez with Whitney Carson. After once again getting the lowest scores of the week, Jimmy Kimmel’s right-hand man thinks maybe the judges were just having a bad day. Witney doesn’t think so, and she’s really honing in on his technique. She’s got her work cut out for her teaching him a salsa to “Tití Me Preguntó” by Bad Bunny, but Guillermo is going for a 6, especially from Carrie Ann. “You took the note, and you made it work!” she tells him. SCORE: 22 out of 40

Actress Jenna Dewan with Val Chmerkovskiy. This week’s performance will be all about passion, because these two are dancing a paso doble to “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. Dewan is also filming The Rookie, so things are getting challenging as Val drills her on the technique — even on set between takes. “Incandescent! Thrilling from start to finish!” Bruno yells. SCORE: 36 out of 40 (straight 9s!)

Actor Harry Shum Jr. with Jenna Johnson. The Grey’s Anatomy actor is finally starting to feel like a leading man, and as they reach their flow, they’re performing a samba to “Yeah!” by Usher ft. Lil Jon & Ludacris. Shum Jr. got to see Usher’s halftime performance live, so hopefully he’ll be able to bring some of that same energy to the ballroom, but he’s going to have to remember this is a Latin dance and not a hip-hop routine. “If that was a halftime show, amazing. I loved every minute of it. But, it’s a samba,” Carrie Ann said. “You need to put more content in your dances.” SCORE: 33 out of 40

Paralympian Ezra Frech with Daniella Karagach. Bringing up the rear this week, these two are coming off heaping praise from the judges for their rumba on Week 4. For Super Bowl night, they’re performing a salsa to “Hot in Herre” by Nelly. Frech wants to bring a decade of missed parties to the ballroom floor tonight. (he was training to make it to the Paralympics, to be fair). “I genuinely get lost in your performances,” Derek says, “Fantastic way to close the show.” SCORE: 36 out of 40 (another straight set of 9s!)

Who goes home?

In a move that had the audience distraught but should’ve been expected at some point, Guillermo and Witney are sent home Tuesday night. Next week is Dedication Night, where the remaining stars will be honoring someone or something special in their life.

Now that Candle Media‘s glow has dimmed further with the sale of its Hello Sunshine majority stake, fresh questions are being raised about the firm’s future.

The financials around the deal for Reese Witherspoon’s company, which she is buying back from Candle in partnership with France-based Mediawan, have not been disclosed. But one veteran financier familiar with the transaction told Deadline it likely represents a loss of several hundreds of millions of dollars for Candle. The main culprits: a $900 million valuation when the firm took a majority stake in Hello Sunshine in 2021 – a sky-high level given its output and lack of profitability – and dramatic changes in the media landscape of late.

Five years ago, Candle lit up with $2 billion in backing from private equity mainstay Blackstone. At the time, the industry was on a major streaming binge, and the company had two titans at the helm in co-founders Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs. The two had spent years together in high posts at Disney, helping to pull off major M&A deals like the Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm acquisitions and the thunderbolt merger with Capital Cities-ABC that brought ESPN into the fold.

Today, industry observers wonder if the next logical move for Candle would be to swing a deal for the company’s main remaining asset, kids entertainment powerhouse Moonbug. Private equity firms, after all, view their funding and portfolios in terms of returns within years, not decades.

Moonbug, which produces CoComelon, is in better financial shape than many of its peers. But the nearly $3 billion Candle paid to acquire it has set a high bar. One source familiar with the strategic thinking of Mayer and Staggs says a deal to unload the company is not imminent but has been actively explored. As it has regrouped, Candle has cut staff and restructured from its origins as a buyer of assets to primarily an operator of them.

RELATED: Candle Media Restructures, Folding Animation Into Moonbug As Hello Sunshine Chief Sarah Harden Takes Over Rebranded Studio

A Candle rep declined comment when contacted by Deadline. Blackstone did not respond to a request for comment.

Difficulties for private equity-backed players extend far beyond the entertainment sector, and stem largely from higher interest rates. In an article about the increasingly tenuous state of small- and mid-sized private players, published Tuesday in parallel with the Hello Sunshine news, the Wall Street Journal quoted a banker as saying the situation is approaching a “period of reckoning.” As money returns to the sidelines, private equity fundraising is on track for its worst year since 2020.

The rate-driven increase in the cost of borrowing money is squeezing a lot of firms like Candle, given that they have to try to sell assets at even higher levels to account for the difference in rates. For those in the media business, however, demand for streaming programming is also receding as Netflix and other players tighten their belt and the industry braces for the impact of the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Skydance, their new parent company, is promising at least $6 billion in cost savings related to the deal. Podcast platforms, which once splashed cash around, have also cut their spending.

One of Candle’s early investments, along with Hello Sunshine, was a minority stake in Will Smith’s production company Westbrook. Less than three months after that deal was announced in January 2022, Smith became an industry pariah after slapping Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars, earning a 10-year ban from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. While Smith has returned to starring roles, the episode added another wrinkle to the already difficult task of profiting from film and TV production.

Along with Westbrook, the company invested in Spain-based Exile Content Studio and social media storytelling firm ATTN:.

No one who has done business with Mayer and Staggs or who is familiar with the company’s operations blames them personally for the firm’s struggles. It simply seems to be a case of unfortunate timing.

Given their largely charmed run at Disney, where each served a tour of duty at the company’s strategic planning division before rising to higher positions, both are sought-after and respected executives. Even after Candle’s founding, the pair were retained by former Disney CEO Bob Iger as consultants. David Zaslav brought Mayer in as he was about to close the Warner Bros. Discovery merger in 2021. Drawing on the expertise he developed at Disney overseeing the launch of Disney+ and leading a number of sports initiatives, Mayer also served as chairman of sports streamer DAZN just prior to Candle’s launch.

“We did move aggressively,” Mayer said of Candle during an appearance on a Deadline-moderated panel at last month’s Zurich Summit. “When I thought about what I wanted Candle to be, I wanted it to be a modernly configured media company that had a flywheel around great storytelling told by great storytelling.”

Candle spent some $4 billion on acquisitions, Mayer recalled, musing about how different that outlay is from the massive level of Disney and other giants. “There is a certain minimum scale you probably need to make an impact,” he said.

Moonbug, while it accounts for three-quarters of Candle’s spending, is a property with heft in the YouTube-driven creator economy. At the Zurich conference, Mayer noted that CoComelon‘s Netflix incarnation was the streamer’s most popular title from 2021-2024. The company’s YouTube channel gets 13 billion views a month, more than all of Disney including ESPN and four times the viewing of MrBeast.

“There’s no doubt they’d look to do a deal if they get an offer in the right ballpark,” one investor says. “But in today’s climate, is anybody going to step forward to make that kind of offer? That’s really the question.”

For Mayer and Staggs, despite their sterling reputations, “this is going to take some time for people to get over,” the investor added. “Though this business can have a short memory if the money is right.”